Sofia Martinez My Family Adventure Review

As a parent I love finding books that feature different cultures and races. This year I am participating in Multicultural Children’s Book Day (MCCBD). To give you a little background, the MCCBD team’s mission is to spread the word and raise awareness about the importance of diversity in children’s literature. It’s important for young readers to see themselves within the pages of a book and experience other cultures, languages and traditions within the pages of a book. 

Now on to the book I was excited to review. I received Sofia Martinez My Family Adventure by Jacqueline Jules. This paperback book follows Sofia on her many adventures from taking school pictures to doing chores. She is full of life and loves her family. Throughout the book Sofia shares many Spanish expressions with her readers. In the back of the book there is a glossary to help you and your children learn simple Spanish phrases. The book is aimed for children in kindergarten through second grade.

Our daughter is a little young for the book, but I liked how the book contained 3 different stories. The stories were short enough that we could read one each night. There are beautiful illustrations on each page and our daughter loved the big pink bow Sofia wears in the first story. At this point I think some of the “morals” of the stories or the thoughts Sofia has are above our daughter’s comprehension level, but I think as time goes on she will be able to relate to Sofia’s adventures.

In the first adventure Sofia became tired of hearing she looked just like her sisters. She wanted to stand out. At the end of the short story, her mom reminds her she is special just the way she is, she doesn’t need to be any different. After reading the story, I thought it would be fun to create a worksheet with Izzy to remind her why she is special.

I recently read something on Instagram that really touched me. Another mom commented that she tries to never complain about her daughter’s hair in front of her. Our daughter’s curls keep getting tighter and tighter. We love her curls, but brushing them can be difficult. I don’t want her to grow up resenting her curly hair and wishing she had straight hair. I want to embrace this part of her and let her know it makes her special. Overall, we enjoyed reading Sofia Martinez and we are grateful for authors who embrace diversity in children’s literature.

Want to get involved in Multicultural Children’s Book Day? We encourage readers, parents, teachers, caregivers and librarians to follow along the fun book reviews, author visits, event details, a multicultural children’s book linky and via our hashtag (#ReadYourWorld) on Twitter and other social media.

I also want to mention Multicultural Children’s Book Day has 12 amazing Co-Host and you can us the links below or view them here.

All Done Monkey, Crafty Moms Share,Educators Spin on it, Growing Book by Book, Imagination Soup,I’m Not the Nanny, InCultural Parent, Kid World Citizen, Mama Smiles, Multicultural Kid Blogs, Spanish Playground

Multicultural Children’s Book day 2016 Medallion Level Sponsors! #ReadYourWorld

Platinum: Wisdom Tales Press * StoryQuest Books*Lil Libros

Gold: Author Tori Nighthawk*Candlewick Press,* Bharat Babies

Silver: Lee and Low Books*Chronicle Books*Capstone Young Readers T

Tuttle Publishing ,NY Media Works, LLC/KidLit TV

Bronze: Pomelo Books* Author Jacqueline Woodson*Papa Lemon Books* Goosebottom Books*Author Gleeson Rebello*ShoutMouse Press*Author Mahvash Shahegh* China Institute.org*Live Oak Media